This week your basket contains: zucchini, cucumber, beans, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, tomatillos, carrots, sweet corn, eggplant, and sweet peppers.

The next event we have planned is PUMPKIN PICK UP WEEKEND!  We look forward to this every year.  The weekend of Oct 22^nd & 23^rd is set aside for you to come out and choose your carving pumpkin (included in your subscription).  We will have the pizza oven fired up (you have to try pumpkin pie pizza!), we’ll be leading farm tours, and sharing a pot luck lunch.  As we have in past years, we will also be have the “guess the weight and win the pumpkin” contest for the largest pumpkins we grew this year (one each day).  Come out either day between 10:00 and 3:00 for what will be a fantastic event.

The change in the weather has been reflected in the changing contents of your basket.  Rain has cause virtually every ripe cherry tomato to split and be unusable.  While there are an abundance of green cherry tomatoes still on the vine, if we don’t get some sunny warm weather, it is unlikely they will ever ripen (fingers crossed!).  Likewise, our final variety of sweet corn (a white variety called Silver Queen) has not responded well to the weather.  We took last week off from harvesting corn to give this variety a chance to ripen, but it still isn’t ready.  We were able to harvest some other varieties that this week would be better used in a dish (like these recipes) rather than eaten on the cob.

SUMMER CORN CHOWDER

6 ears sweet corn

6 cups chicken broth

2 cloves of garlic, bruised

1 russet potato cut in ½ inch cubes

2 cups milk

salt and pepper

4 slices of bacon diced

4 medium tomatoes cubed

¼ cup chopped fresh basil

Strip corn from ears and set aside.  Simmer the cobs and garlic in the broth for 10 minutes.  Remove the cobs and garlic, stir in the potatoes and half of the corn kernels and simmer for 10-12 minutes.  Puree and set aside in a bowl after stirring in the milk, salt and pepper.  Cook the bacon in the original pot until fully cooked (approx 6 minutes).  Add the onion and sauté for 10 minutes.  Add the reserved pureed soup and the remaining corn then simmer for 8 minutes.  Stir in the tomatoes and basil and serve.  From Culinate.com

CARAMELIZED CORN AND RED PEPPERS

2 cups fresh corn kernels

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 red bell peppers, chopped

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 garlic clove, chopped

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

Heat large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add corn; stir until beginning to dry and brown, about 8 minutes. Transfer to small bowl. Add oil to skillet. Heat over medium-high heat. Add bell peppers, onion, and garlic. Sauté until peppers are tender, about 8 minutes. Mix in cilantro and chili powder, then corn. Stir until heated through, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

On the other hand, beans and peppers are going great guns.  If you are feeling a bit overwhelmed by beans, they are very easy to freeze for later use.  Simply, blanch (quick steam) the beans until bright green, cool quickly, and freeze in freezer bags for several months.  Peppers are even easier to freeze (no blanching necessary).  Simply remove the seeds and stems, cut into strips, pack in freezer safe packaging and pop them in the freezer.  They are great for winter-time fajitas or stir-fry or soup.  Another good way to use a lot of sweet peppers is to roast them.  This can be done on a grill or under a broiler.  Place the peppers close enough to the flame or heat source to thoroughly char the skins, turning so that they are pretty uniformly black.  Let them cool in a paper sack for about ten minutes.  At this point, the skin should come off fairly easily.  Remove the stem and seeds and slice thinly.  These are delicious in salads, on pizza, or as their own salad with a vinaigrette.  Roasted this way, they can also be frozen for later use.

IMAM BAYILDI

2/3 cup olive oil

3 medium eggplants

Salt and pepper

2 onions

4 garlic cloves

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 Lb tomatoes, chopped

1 Tbs dried oregano

½ tsp sugar (optional)

3 Tbs chopped parsley

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Slice eggplant in half lengthwise and, using a large frying pan, fry in batches in 1/3 cup olive oil, until brown on both sides (10 -15 minutes).  Blot off excess oil with paper towels. Arrange on shallow baking dish and season with salt and pepper.  Heat the remaining olive oil in a sauce pan, saute onions until they start to color. Add garlic and cumin, fry for 2-3 minutes then add tomatoes, oregano and sugar (if desired).  Pour in 2/3 cup water and season with salt and pepper.  Cover and cook for 15 minutes.  Stir in parsley and divide stuffing into 6 equal portions.  Pile the stuffing on each eggplant half.  Pour 2/3 cup boiling water into the baking dish and cook in oven for 45 minutes.  Serve hot or at room temperature.  Serves 6.  Adapted from Easy Vegan.